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Risk Assessment Services

Risk is a constant part of your business - so know where you stand.

Risk is a constant part of your business - so know where you stand.

Risk is a constant part of your business. Almost every operation that you perform is undertaken with some level of risk, whether you are risking phishing emails with an email account or risking a data leak with information transfer in the cloud.

That is why your company needs a risk management process with a risk assessment component. After all, you cannot mitigate risks without first knowing what your risks are and how severe their consequences may be. But it can be difficult for your company to objectively and accurately assess your own risks.

The solution is risk assessment services. These services can offer many tools to help your company accurately determine its risk. Some tools may include a risk assessment matrix, which compares the risk probability with the risk consequences, or a digital risk management framework, which allows your company to track your risk and plan for proper mitigation online.

But wherever tools the assessment services provide, you need an assessment that will accurately gauge your risk. Not only will that help your risk management plan effectively mitigate your risks, but you will also be able to report your components of risk in insurance so that you can get the proper coverage plan.

How can you choose an effective risk assessment service? There are certain things you should look for in risk assessment services including their process of risk assessment and their adherence to basic risk assessment principles.

We have the information you need to discover the best risk assessment service for you. Keep reading to find out what your risk assessment service must include.

Risk assessment process

Your business’s risk assessment service needs to follow a risk assessment process to help you discover the full gamut of risks you may be exposed to. This way, you will not neglect any potential risks in your assessment or insufficiently analyze both components of your discovered risks.

What are the 2 components of risk? Risk involves both the probability that something will go wrong and the negative consequences of something going wrong. An effective risk assessment process will examine both of these components of risk.

The Risk Management Framework (RMF) is an effective risk assessment process for cyber security. As part of NIST, this risk assessment methodology example can help you effectively discover the risks your business is exposed to, assess their impact, and manage that impact effectively.

The RMF assessment and authorization process has seven steps that your business can take to assess your risk and reduce it.

  1. Prepare. In this step, your business needs to get ready to execute the RMF by establishing your business's priorities for managing your security and privacy risk.
  2. Categorize. Next, your business must categorize the information you have processed, stored, and transmitted in your information systems based on the potential impact of the loss of that information.
  3. Select. Your organization needs to choose an initial set of controls for your information system and tailor them if necessary to reduce your business’s risk of losing information.
  4. Implement. Once the controls are chosen, you must implement them within your information system and its environment of operation.
  5. Assess. As your business uses the controls, you should assess if they were implemented correctly and are reducing your risk by satisfying your organization’s security and privacy requirements.
  6. Authorize. Your organization needs to authorize the system controls once you determine that the remaining risk is acceptable.
  7. Monitor. Finally, your business will continually monitor the information system and controls, assessing the control effectiveness, documenting any changes to the system, conducting risk assessments, and reporting on the security of the system.

Secure for the known, insure for the unknown

Your destination may be achieving compliance in industry certifications such as SOC2 or ISO27001, but it doesn’t stop there. With Trava, our modern tools can help you bridge the gap between where you are and where you want to be by giving you the control to assess your risk, repair the most vulnerable areas, and transfer risk through insurance.

Principles of risk assessment

Whether your risk assessment service follows the RMF assessment and authorization process exactly should not be your main concern. It is a good example methodology for a risk assessment process, but you only need to ensure that your risk assessment service adheres to the basic principles of risk assessment.

Some basic principles that any risk assessment service must follow are:

Another key principle to consider is that your risk assessment is only one component of risk management. It is one step in the process of securing your company. So, keep your risk assessment in perspective, and use it as a stepping stone for the other components of risk management.

What are the components of risk management? 4 components of risk management should be present in any risk management plan for cybersecurity.

Risk management first includes risk identification. You might be asking: what are the two components of risk? There are two separate components of risk identification. First, your risk identification must discover the different risks your business is exposed to. Second, your risk identification must analyze the severity of the consequences that each risk will bring.

The third component of risk management is risk mitigation. Once the risks have been identified, your business needs to establish a plan to either avoid the risk, reduce the chance of the risk occurring, or reduce the negative consequences of the risk.

Finally, your business should transfer the risks that cannot be entirely mitigated. This is often done through cyber insurance which will help your business recover quickly after a cyber attack.

There are different types of risk assessment services that your company can choose from. But so long as they follow these general principles, they should help your company effectively determine and manage your risk.

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Components of risk assessment

Along with the general principles of risk assessment, the risk assessment service should also include the two key components of risk assessment: discovery and analysis.

The discovery and analysis each correspond with one of the components of risk. What are the components of risk? As previously mentioned, risk includes both the probability that something will occur and the negative consequences of that something occurring. So, the discovery phase of risk assessment determines the probability of something happening. Then, the analysis phase looks at the negative consequences that could result from something happening.

For the discovery phase, your business will need to break down any potential risks that you could encounter. You need to document all the risks you can think of—small or large.

Depending on the risk assessment service you choose, you may undergo penetration testing during the discovery phase. Penetration testing is when someone will act as a hacker and try to breach your system’s security. This person will then report how effective your cyber security is. With this type of testing, your business can confirm risks that you thought were possible and also discover new vulnerabilities you did not realize existed.

Then, your business will enter the analysis phase where you determine the consequences that each risk will bring. You should determine who or what will be harmed by the risk consequences and how extensive that harm will be.

To put both phases together, your risk assessment service may include a risk assessment matrix that will consider the probability of the risk against the category of consequence severity. You can summarize all the data you collected from your risk assessment in this matrix which will help you define your level of risk as a whole.

Working through each phase of risk assessment carefully helps keep your risk assessment efficient and guides your organization toward creating a clinical risk management plan.

CISA certification

Finally, as your business considers a risk assessment service to use, you should see if the service employees have a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) certification.

The CISA certification is a globally recognized standard for IS audit control and security professionals. With a CISA certification, the professionals are shown to be capable of assessing vulnerabilities in an organization’s information technology and business systems.

This certification adds credibility to a service, so a certified CISA risk assessment service will naturally be a better choice than one that is not certified. This service will provide a certified CISA risk and vulnerability assessment, which will have more accurate results.

You now know the key qualifications to look for in a risk assessment service, so you can get accurate results and prepare to manage your risk effectively. And you do not have to search far for a qualified risk assessment service provider because Trava has the qualifications and reliability you need.

Trava’s risk assessment services will walk your company through a three-step process to determine your risk and plan to avoid it. We will first assess your current security situation and the risks you are exposed to. Then, we will provide you with mitigation tools to repair your vulnerabilities and best prevent threats from occurring in the future. Finally, we will partner you will the right cyber insurance so you can transfer the risk to someone else.

Uncertain about the results we can provide? We offer a free risk assessment score so you can determine what your current risk is and how we can help you develop your risk management plan.

Your search for an effective risk assessment and management service is over. We have the resources just for your small- or medium-sized business. Book a demo with us today!

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